Great libraries and great museums often begin with the generosity of great benefactors. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Royal Cork Institution (RCI) sought to satisfy the desire for a public space in which to establish a centre for learning enriched with both a library and museums, a place to visit and wonder, a place for public lectures on the sciences — above all, a place to foster learning and intellectual creativity.

Named for Baron Cuvier, the French zoologist and naturalist, the Cork Cuverian Society for the Cultivation of the Sciences held regular meetings at the headquarters of the RCI. The RCI and the Cork Cuverian Society were the forerunners to Queen’s College Cork, founded in 1845, which became University College Cork in 1908. Their collections enriched the museums and library of the young university. When the college opened its doors to students in 1849, they found a series of museums established in the North Wing of the Quadrangle, one of the most prestigious sites on the campus.

The twentieth century saw the dispersal and dismantling of the museum collections across the campus. As Professor John A Murphy laments in his book The College: A History of University College Cork, “The history of the museum question in Cork, civic and academic, is one of sad neglect and broken promises.” Perhaps now is the time for UCC to rediscover its rich heritage, and display in a more prominent position its inherited treasures of Natural History.

© 2010 Jeremy W Bowman